So you guys can probably guess what's going to happen in Wednesday's comic, right? Let's say it all together...

SUITCASE ARMOR!

Stay tuned for that...

So, like most of the free world, I saw Iron Man 2 over the weekend and felt pretty good about it. I know a few of you are dying to get my official review, but I don't think today is going to be the day. To be frank, I'm working on a paper for one of my Master's classes that's due Tuesday. So pretty much 90% of my brain is dedicated to that right now.

I might have something for you Tuesday or Thursday. I'm thinking about publishing it on an "off" day for the site because I know there's going to be a lot of spoiler territory I want to cover. I'll assume the majority of you who are interested in my review are comfortable with that. But with the odd chance that someone who hasn't seen the movie and isn't aware of my relationship with the character were to stumble upon it... Well, I don't want problems.

I can give you an overview - although, take my comments with a grain of salt. I'm heavily biased in favor of the franchise.

I thought Iron Man 2 was much more polished than it's predecessor, but it glosses over some important story elements that I wished it would have spent more time on.

Most prominently, I wish the movie did more than give lip service to the Iron Man technology and how it changed the world. We see news clippings about Iron Man helping to bring peace in the Middle East and how he's Time's Person of the Year. But the movie never really SHOWS us the ways in which Tony Stark's involvement in geo-politics has transformed the global landscape.

I'm not asking for a 15-minute montage, or anything. But seeing the suit in action in a few different locations would have added some texture and made the plot point revolving around Garry Shandling's Senator who wants the Iron Man technology turned over to the government a little more meaningful.

That's probably the biggest thing the movie gets wrong. The biggest thing the movie gets RIGHT is it's depiction of Tony's ego and how it gets in the way of his genius.

Iron Man has always had a very weak rogue's gallery. Whiplash's inclusion in the sequel is evidence of this. That's because Iron Man's greatest opponent has never been some advanced tech-wielding mercenary. Iron Man's greatest villain has always been Tony Stark.

There are more than a few scenes that sell this point magnificently, although they don't always leave the best taste in your mouth. I think in the context of a super hero movie (and it's limited running time), people aren't interested in the hero being a jerk for 60% of the movie. So I think they took a gamble by amplifying those aspects of Tony's personality. But, for me, they worked brilliantly.

I could very easily keep going and going about Iron Man 2, but I think I'll stop there for now. Keep checking back on the site for a full review in the near future.

Now that I'm thinking about it, it'll probably be Thursday before you see it. I'm contemplating a second viewing of the movie on Wednesday night. Not for review purposes exclusively, mind you. But because I genuinely enjoyed the film and am very eager to see it again.

That probably doesn't carry a lot of weight with you, but I don't often see movies in the theaters twice. I didn't even see the original Iron Man in the theaters twice. So that I'm willing to see the sequel more than once should serve to reflect my overall enjoyment of the film.

There are nitpicky criticisms to be sure. But ultimately, I think most people are going to enjoy the film and leave it having been entertained.

Discussion (20) ¬

Saw the movie on Friday and was very excited. First warning sign was a mostly empty theater on a Friday night. I can summarize the movie with one word – boring. My wife fell asleep, I was distracted, and by the minorly climactic end of the movie, I just didn’t even care. It’s not hard to make an exciting film – conflict, climax, resolution. IM2 flatlined.

I think the major problem was it felt like a low budget film. Not in the effects or casting, but in the way scenes were presented. It’s like those global catastrophy films that only ever show 5 characters that apparently all of humanity has tasked with fixing the problem. Every scene felt very isolated and limited. I understand that Tony Stark is saving the world – let’s see it. Just a few shots of him doing battle around the world would have sufficed, I think.

I will say that Mickey Rourke was excellent and had to be my favorite character in the film.

While I missed the feeling of absolute fanboy nerdgasm that I felt upon viewing the first movie, I thoroughly enjoyed the sequel. It felt full, for sure; subplots and character arcs all over the place. I think that was my personal problem with it – it tried to do so much that by the end of watching it I felt as if I had gone crazy at an all-you-can-eat buffet. But it was good food, so it was worth the stomach discomfort.

I remember thinking about the “How did he bring world peace?” question briefly during the movie, but I don’t think it bothered me all that much.

In short – it isn’t a perfect sequel, and it doesn’t outshine the original, but it was a damn good sequel and I’m glad I saw it in the theater.

And I yelped with delight at the after-credits scene (more than half the theater left… suckas!!!).

I had the pleasure of watching the movie last Friday and honestly I have to say I loved it. I’ll agree with your opinion of the movie lacking as far as showing his global involvement, but otherwise I felt the movie was as good or better than the previous. Maybe it was just good for different reasons.

All of the actors did a great job, I was thrilled by the inclusion of Don Cheadle in this film (didn’t care for Terrance Howard’s performance in the first). The back and forth between Don and Robert Downy was strong and believable. Sam Rockwell did an amazing job of ALMOST seeming threatening but having that underlying film of incompetence in everything he did. Heck it was even entertaining watching Jon Favreau’s scenes play out. All and all I plan on seeing it at least one more time in the theaters.

I saw the movie sunday at noon after taking my mom out for lunch. I really enjoyed the movie but that could be my comic book geekdom adding to it. Although after the first movie Don Cheadle didn’t have the look that had been originally put in place but with that said he was great in the role as Rhodey and hope that he will be in the 3rd movie. I kind of wished that he would have shown a little more inexperience after stepping into the war machine because Tony struggled with the suit as he was developing it in the first one. Other than a few clumsy moves it appeared as if Rhodey had previously used the suit. the plot was good but I think a few spots could have explored a little more but who knows maybe they did and it ended up on the cutting room floor. Overall all I thought it was good and jsut like you Tom, i don’t go out to the movies often but I would def see IM2 again.

And on a side note I found out DreamWorks is filming a movie at a high school near me and I went down to the casting call on saturday (which is why I had to wait til sunday to see IM2). The movie is called “I am number four” and I guess there is a series of books. I’m hoping to get into it as an extra especially since Michael Bay is producing it and Steven Spielberg is one of the excutive producers. They are fliming from june-aug and it should be in theatres come feb 11 or 18 in 2011.

Did anyone else feel that the final battle with Whiplash was slightly anti-climactic? It was almost as if they decided to have all the drones explode to spice it up and for me I guess i kind of expected a little more out of the battle with all the action throughout the movie.

I enjoyed it, but I think you’re right about showing a little more of what they hinted at. I loved the footage at the beginning of the Iron Man rip-offs failing. It could have been a lot of fun to have some of that action in the movie.

I thought Fury was in it a little too much. He should have been a brief cameo, walking in, kicking Tony in the rear to get him working again. Not that his material was bad, I just felt like his stuff kind of dragged the movie a little.

And while I loved the Black Widow’s action scene, I felt like she got seriously short-changed in the personality department. They just didn’t give her enough to do.

Hammer was great – it’s like they told Sam Rockwell to just play a guy who’s trying way too hard to be Tony Stark and he ran with it.

I liked Iron Man 2 but I don’t think it was as good as the first. The plot wasn’t as perfected and even the battle scenes weren’t as great. I mena the final scene with Whiplash was rather short. I think Tom’s battle scene’s are longer :p

Good movie, not good enough to say that it was better than the first one. I think that Iron Man 2 is just another good sequel. Is kinda just an extension of the first one. It couldn’t be a good movie just by itself.

Firstly, Rhodes should not have been instantly familiar with the Mach II armor. The audience was essentially led to believe that either anyone could use the Iron Man armor, which would greatly diminish Tony Stark’s need to be Iron Man, or that Rhodes had prior experience wearing the armor.

Justin Hammer’s complete ineptness also bothered me. It’s not that Tony Stark or Whiplash simply bested Hammer, rather, it seemed that Hammer was just some spoiled trust fund child who had no material wants, but lacked the knowledge to be an actual threat to anyone.

I also would have liked the final battle between Iron Man, War Machine and Whiplash to be much longer. Whiplash’s final scenes simply seemed rushed.

Of course, those are all relatively minor detractors that should not prevent anyone from seeing IRON MAN 2.

I think Rhodey being able to use the armour from the get go makes sense. Let’s remember he’s an airforce Colonel so he’d definately know his way around technology and in the Marvel world Starktech is used in the military so you’d have to assume he’s familiar with what Tony uses. My only problem with Wat Machine is that he wouldn’t be able to fly as high as Iron Man, and who didn’t laugh like a crazy bastard when Hammer’s super awesome bullet did nothing to Whiplash?

Spoilers!
I loved the little scene with cap’s shield, and was a but disappointed they missed the oppertunity to make the new element vibranium.

Saw Iron Man 2 Monday night. Yes, it was not as good as the first one but it will probably be one of the best movies I see this summer. (Which is sad since it is May 10th. Gonna be a long summer, movie-wise) Also, don’t bother staying through the credits. I’m as much of a geek as the next guy, but I wanted my 5 minutes back. At least last time we got a surprise visit by Sam Jackson.

To everyone who bitches about the length of the battle scenes: Seriously? The action was fantastic, and Iron Man’s fight scenes in the comics are generally pretty short as well. The only reason the battle with Iron Monger was more stretched out in the first Iron Man film was because it consisted mostly of running away, which in IM2 we had a great chase scene with the drones beforehand anyway.

My main bitch about the plot is this: So Whiplash shows up and that’s enough proof to the rest of the world that the cat is out of the bag and other countries have access to Iron Man technology?! HOW?! It was a guy with some electrified whips, the only thing interesting about it was the power supply, which no one except Tony seemed to be interested in anyway.
Also: why didn’t Tony put the reactor outside of his chest? I mean if Rhodey’s stolen suit operates without it being implanted in his chest, surely Tony can create some separation between his decaying power supplies and his bloodstream. Hell, he could just go back to having a car battery attached when he’s at home and put the arc reactor inside the suits with an extra electrical wire feeding into his system. Of course it was a necessary plot device so I can accept it.

I assumed while watching the movie that Rhodes had previous experience with the mark 2 suit. He was able to get Jarvis to suit him up and they mentioned that there are various counter-measures in place to keep unauthorized users from using the armor and it’s not a big stretch to assume that Tony and Rhodes had a spare weekend and Tony said “Hay, wanna’ try out the suit?”

Apparently I’m one of the few who thought IM2 was better than the first. I’m also one of the few who wasn’t initially blown away by the first one. I thought it was alright, but after seeing it a few more times it has grown on me. Maybe that’s why I liked the second one so much, I was invested in the story and characters. My main complaint with the first was I wasn’t impressed by the villain. In the sequel they provided me with all sorts of people to antagonized, and I loved to hate them all. Rockwell as Hammer was great. Whiplash surprised me with brains, not just brawn. The “Hammeroids” gave Tony something to bash and blast over an extended period of time, instead of one foe to take down. The action was very exciting and great eye candy. I will definitely be seeing it again in theaters.

I’m a little late to the game with this comment but I figured why not. I wanted to address the Rhodes problem people keep coming up with. Personally I don’t see much of an issue with him being familiar with the suit.

In the first movie most of our trials and mishaps with Tony wearing the suit weren’t directly related to the Mark II armor. In fact he had most of his issues while he was TESTING the suit, before he completed Mark II. Once he had Mark II ready the only mistake he made was landing through his roof and destroying his car, he actually took off flying immediately.

I don’t find it hard to believe that once the suit was ready the on board computer took care of most of the flight issues (keeping your hands straight and so on) and any other problems Tony initially had. Not to mention if your paying attention it seemed as if Jarvis was letting EVERY main character into the lab, even the guy from SHIELD. Being that Rhodes was such a close friend, I can imagine that Jarvis would cooperate with him as far as suiting up, and it’s possible that Tony had already given Jarvis orders to.

Most of what Rhodes did during that fight was “bare knuckle” brawling. No special tricks for most of the fight, just hit as hard as the suit allowed with as many objects as you can find. Tony was the one using other features to his advantage, like when he threw them both into the boxing ring room. With that said, I don’t think it’s hard to believe that most people could use the suit as well as that, I never felt Tony had this massive exclusive operation ability. It’s his ability to upgrade, build, and attach more and better tech to his armor that makes him special. He understands the tech better than anyone else, he built it. If you add that to his extreme intelligence, you can see why he would make a better Iron Man than most if not anyone else.